Once upon a time there was no donkey in Guizhou. So someone officious shipped one there, but finding no use for it, he set it loose at the foot of the mountain.
A tiger ran out from the mountains. When he saw this big tall thing, he thought it must be divine. He quickly hid himself in the forest and surveyed it from under cover. Sometimes the tiger ventured a little nearer, but still kept a respectful distance.
One day the tiger came out again. Just then the donkey gave a loud bray. Thinking the donkey was going to eat him, the tiger hurriedly ran away. After a while he sneaked back and watched the donkey carefully. He found that though it had a huge body it seemed to have no special ability.
After a few days the tiger gradually became accustomed to its braying and was no longer so afraid. Sometimes he even came near and circled around the donkey.
Later the tiger became bolder. Once he walked in front of the donkey and purposely bumped it. This made the donkey so angry that it struck out his hind legs and kicked wildly.
Seeing this the tiger was very gleeful, 'Such a big thing as you can do so little!' With a roar he pounced on the donkey and ate it up.
This idiom is used to mean that one has exhausted one's skills.
Fables and parables have had an important place in Chinese literature and culture since ancient times. Liu Zongyuan (773-819 AD), a great writer during the Tang (T’ang) dynasty, wrote the following fable of a donkey as a political lesson. Qian is a former name of modern Guizhou, in south central China.
Fables and parables have had an important place in Chinese literature and culture since ancient times. Liu Zongyuan (773-819 AD), a great writer during the Tang (T’ang) dynasty, wrote the following fable of a donkey as a political lesson. Qian is a former name of modern Guizhou, in south central China.
0 comments:
Post a Comment